II-V

What Are Chord Substitutions?

Chord substitution is to replace a chord by another one to add more harmonic interest to a piece, a song or a chord progression. In jazz music, this technique is widely by composers and improvisers. It can be useful to reharmonize a chord sequence or a jazz standard. There are two types of substitutions :

Diatonic substitutions (chords that have the same tonal function) :

Relative minor.

Secondary relative minor.

Dominant minor (II-V).

Chromatic substitutions (Formed with chords from other keys or modes) :

Tritone substitution.

Secondary dominant chords.

Chromatic common tones.

Chord quality substitution.

Adding II-V progressions.

This post is focused on diatonic substitutions, chromatic substitutions will be discussed in another topic.